FEAtURE ARtIClE the many problems.Whatever happens, performance needs to change and better producers need to help implement the best practices. Individuals can have an impact but we need to work together to produce more with less, said Mr Weech. Food companies can impact the whole supply chain, he concluded.
Water stress is a function of the amount of water use and the amount of water available (water use/water availability) and can be used as a predictor of direct economic costs. A map of the world shows that water threat is increasing in western Asia particularly as well as northern Africa to a lesser extent; in these regions, current water use is unsustainable. In southern and central Asia and the Caucasus, water scarcity is approaching, according to UN estimates.
MEASURING WHAT MATTERS “In Nature, everything is connected and Nature is closely linked with economic systems - and added to that, everything is changing,” Dr Greg Thoma of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability at the University of Arkansas told the Animal Agriculture Sustainability Summit. Change imposes risks on the economy and on businesses, he continued, but we need to recognise that bias affects all our decisions. This is a global issue, with many countries in west Asia, Africa and much of South America dependent on food imports. Forty per cent of the Earth’s land area is crop or pasture, he said. It has been estimated that we need to treble food production to meet the growing need and that research and technology will cover an increase of about 2.5-fold.We need to measure what matters and what we can control, according to Dr Thoma. Turning to China to illustrate the complexities of the issue, he pointed out that while the flow of the yellow River has fallen over the last 40 years, that of the yangtze has risen. So the prediction points to the east of the country becoming wetter while the west gets drier. How can that be managed, he asked, and what will be the overall effects of China’s agriculture? Water is one of the most critical resources, he stressed. Putting water into the poultry context, it has been estimated that an average chicken requires a total of 1,170 litres of water from growing the feed crops to the table. However, the actual figure will vary widely, depending on the production method and even where the maize for the feed is grown, for example.
Dr Thoma went on to define sustainable agriculture as one which will: • meet the needs of the present while enhancing the ability of future generations to meet their needs • allow increasing productivity to meet future food demands • decreasing impacts on the environment improving human health, and • improving the social and economic well-being of agricultural communities. In essence, the aim is to feed 9.25 billion people with-
“The aim is to feed 9.25 billion people without one hectare more of land or one drop more of water” Dr Greg thoma, University of Arkansas
out one hectare more of land or one drop more of water, he said. The major challenges in the food system stems from the facts that many consumers are far removed from producers and that the complexity of the supply chain results in perverse feedback systems and irrational decisions. Furthermore, volatility of food prices creates immediate human suffering and political instability, especially for the bottom billion - and it is the increasing prosperity of these same people that will affect the future prosperity of all humanity, according to Dr Thoma.
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